TomTom Gets Closer to Bankruptcy

[Just Venting]

TomTom is getting closer to bankruptcy and deservingly so. Read.

I am getting regular emails from TomTom offering map updates. They even offering discount. I have 3 car GPS's in the family needing upgrade. I was not asking for discount. I tried to upgrade, and nothing but frustration.

First of all, for 3 GPS they tell me I need 3 accounts!!!! Do I have nothing better to do. Why on earth one would need account at all? After I shoved a USB cable from my Internet connected computer into the GPS's a$$, why wouldn't they take me to my PayPal or Visa account instead of their own?

I have one GPS from 2006. Not long ago I tried to upgrade it. TomTom started asking me information that was not on the back of the GPS. Do they expect me to keep boxes and manuals for 5 years?

Upgrades could've been a gold mine for someone else.

 

[mvl]

I think you're misreading the article.

Tomtom took on severe debt by purchasing Teleatlas, and hasn't yet dug out of that hole.

Tomtom almost went bankrupt in 2010, and severly diluted it's shares by new selling shares to Teleatlas former executives, raising cash to avoid bankruptcy.

Now it has about $300mil euros in debt, which has been decreasing each quarter since the dilution. So they are headed on the right path.

What the article is announcing is the extension of their balloon payment window with a new revolving credit line, meaning the debt is not due until 2016.

So in short, they've been paying down debt the past few quarters, and announced an extension on the final payoff deadline. So this announcement puts them in less chance of bankruptcy then before.

 

[Just Venting]

It's all so familiar. They are dip into do-do. Executives pretend they are making efforts. In the mean time TomTom acknowledges their main product does not bring them money. The company keeps sinking.

Bunch of idiots, they all should be fired. First for getting into a stupid transaction, second for turning a gold mine of upgrades into a crap pit.

 

[steakman]

When my two units die...?? Its GARMIN ALL the way. I got suckered into buying a 3 yr or 5yr...cant exactly recall, map garantee...and then tried to get one of my units updated.. no joy, tried Cust Serv more than once tried updating more than once... neither service existant.

RIPPED OFF. Pissed off

As far as I am concerned they stole from me.

Secondly, with two units, I am forced to set up two accounts...??
why the hell would I do that.??
why can one not register more than one unit per account..?
pretty dumb set up that is.!

Stupid is as stupid does I guess.

But I am done with tom tom.! say hello to Garmin..at least its made in North America.

Stk

 

[steakman]

Hell, you cant even send them an e-mail..what a flippin joke.
:rant:
stk

 

[5tevie]

The reason for needing 2 accounts if you have 2 devices or 3 for 3 etc could be just as simple as the number of separate accounts looking better on the spreadsheets than the number of units being used.
It makes it look like a lot more people are using Tom-Tom.

It's akin to eBay.
They often quote how many IDs there are but they never mention how many members. That's because some folk have a buying ID, a selling ID and a forum ID. Heck, some folk may have more than one of each. I know guys who have one ID for selling PC stuff, one for selling herbs and plants and yet another for selling the tools/accessories for gardening.
If eBay were being sold, it COULD be made to look as though there were 3 times as many folk using it as there actually are.

 

[canderson]

TomTom is getting closer to bankruptcy and deservingly so.

I'll take mvl's statement that " I think you're misreading the article." and amplify on it a bit. You ARE misreading the article. Their debt trajectory is going the right way. Whether or not the TeleAtlas purchase was the right move remains to be seen in the long term, but unlike Garmin, TomTom is no longer at the mercy of another company for one of the key elements of their products - maps. It cost them a bundle to get into that position. Whether they underpaid, overpaid or the deal was just right .. .well, hard to know, isn't it?

First of all, for 3 GPS they tell me I need 3 accounts!!!! Do I have nothing better to do. Why on earth one would need account at all?

Because each of your units can have entirely different subscriptions for different products. They keep track of accounts by email address. I guess they could use unit serial numbers, your social security number or your mother's maiden name, but email is how they choose to go about it. Whatever it is, it needs to be something you can remember later.

I have one GPS from 2006. Not long ago I tried to upgrade it. TomTom started asking me information that was not on the back of the GPS. Do they expect me to keep boxes and manuals for 5 years?

The serial number alone should have been sufficient. All they really care about is the model. Surely beyond model and serial, there were no other questions asked. If you don't know what model it is (?), and they can't figure that out, it would be hard for them to know if/what to upgrade. Probably a GO510, 710 or 910 based upon the year you specify.

 

[Just Venting]

It appears I did not make my point clear enough, or it just got drowned. Anyway, my point is:

It's time for TomTom to start collecting money, not emails. Had they even half of the brain functioning, they would've already collected from my family more money for upgrades then they ever collected from selling GPS.

As far as TomTom's balance sheet concerned, they could be collecting body fluids samples instead of emails.

 

[Andy_P]

Which School of Economics did you go to, Just Venting?:lalala:

 

[canderson]

Anyway, my point is: ...

Whatever your point might have been, we took issue with what you actually said - to wit, "TomTom is getting closer to bankruptcy", and the title of this entire thread that you created which is "TomTom Gets Closer to Bankruptcy", neither of which were in any way demonstrated by your text, and the article you cite actually tells another story entirely. So yes, that kind of posting does tend to get drowned out pretty easily by the reality.

If instead, you had created a thread that said 'I don't like the way TomTom sets up their unit accounts", some of us might have even agreed with you.